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Ok let me see if I can get this out coherently without forgetting the gist of it.

Great art helps us to understand humanity and our experiences of life, both tragic and joyous. My personal feeling about Shakespeare and on into Greek plays is that they are so vitally important because they remind us that the human experience is not new, not something that just happened last century, that there has been violence, madness, hatred and horror for millenia.

Whatever you believe about the Bible, it is certainly great literature, written by people thinking deeply about humanity and its relationships both one man to another and between men and the world. I draw upon it because I am (vaguely) familiar with its stories, and also because some people who claim to believe every word in it is divine, nevertheless pick and chose which sentences to follow.

Probably the best series I have ever seen about the Bible was Bill Moyer's Genesis. They took these old, puzzling stories, deep with ancient power and mystery, and a group sat around trying to figure out what meaning they had for us today. These old stories, founding stories of humanity, are full of a rich life, including all aspects of the human condition, that seems to have been whitewashed out of some modern discussions.

In modern literature, the most interesting thinking on religious issues I have encountered was in Terry Pratchett's book Small Gods. He tries to work out a philosophy that actually makes sense, a rational philosophy for thinking people.

Ok, so on the topics of violence and revenge, I believe in our culture there is a founding story, that of Cain and Abel.
I will pull the quotes from the KJV Bible, but here is the story as I think of it:
Cain slew Abel. God looked down and saw Abel's blood in the ground, God knew Cain had killed him, with a perfect knowledge far beyond our standard of reasonable doubt. To be glib, God is the ultimate forensic investigator. Yet God, knowing Cain's absolute guilt, still asked him about his deed. And then we come to the most incredible part. Because not only has Cain killed Abel, he has done something even more evil. He has invented murder. Before him, it had not existed. So Cain is not merely a killer, he is the inventor of murder. He has brought it into the world. Surely this deserves the highest punishment that God can mete out. Yet God, seeing and knowing all this, rather than using the "death penalty", instead lets Cain live, and marks him so that others will know of his deed.

So we have here in a sense, the ultimate violent crime, the invention of murder itself, and yet God punishes it not with death but with marked exile.

Let me see if I can get the relevant Bible passages now

Gen.4

[8] And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
[9] And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
[10] And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
[11] And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
[12] When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
[13] And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
[14] Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.
[15] And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.
[16] And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

Ah yes a part I had forgotten, not only does God NOT kill Cain, but he instructs all of his people that NO ONE shall kill Cain, in fact if they do, God shall punish them sevenfold. So not only does God not punish murder with death, he sets his strongest protection upon the murderer. posted by Richard at 06:55 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)